Chipotle was only one of the bigger players, but there were tons of smaller local burrito shops which simply don’t exist anymore, at least not on the east coast. Maybe things are different in California and Texas, but like I said in another comment, my college town had two amazing local burrito places which I ate at all the time, and they both went out of business in the mid/late 2000s and were unironically replaced by a Cava and a bubble tea shop. If you can’t tell, I am still bitter about this. The children are wrong and they need to understand why.
From my perspective Chipotle was just a bellwether anyway. I remember all of a sudden around like 2004 or 2005 when it just seemed to switch from people ordering 80% burritos to 80% bowls overnight. I don’t even remember them advertising bowls heavily until after the (objectively incorrect) shift in consumer preference. It killed the local places, it killed the “overstuffed” wars, and now it seems like your average chipotle cook can’t actually roll a burrito properly because nobody orders them.
Some people don’t want the tortilla dude. Whether it’s to avoid the extra, little-nutrition calories, avoid gluten or the extra carbs plenty of people prefer to skip it. You eat how you wanna eat and I’ll eat how I wanna eat.
if you look to Chipotle for this “burrito culture” you talk of you are already lost.
Chipotle was only one of the bigger players, but there were tons of smaller local burrito shops which simply don’t exist anymore, at least not on the east coast. Maybe things are different in California and Texas, but like I said in another comment, my college town had two amazing local burrito places which I ate at all the time, and they both went out of business in the mid/late 2000s and were unironically replaced by a Cava and a bubble tea shop. If you can’t tell, I am still bitter about this. The children are wrong and they need to understand why.
From my perspective Chipotle was just a bellwether anyway. I remember all of a sudden around like 2004 or 2005 when it just seemed to switch from people ordering 80% burritos to 80% bowls overnight. I don’t even remember them advertising bowls heavily until after the (objectively incorrect) shift in consumer preference. It killed the local places, it killed the “overstuffed” wars, and now it seems like your average chipotle cook can’t actually roll a burrito properly because nobody orders them.
I’m spoiled here in CA, we got some really legit spots. Did the birra craze hit the east coast too?
Some people don’t want the tortilla dude. Whether it’s to avoid the extra, little-nutrition calories, avoid gluten or the extra carbs plenty of people prefer to skip it. You eat how you wanna eat and I’ll eat how I wanna eat.